Search

Amber is tree resin fossilized over the course of thousands of years produced by ancient forests around the Baltic region so many years ago. It features prominently in myth as well as practical use throughout history.

Today, amber is valued for its beauty as jewelry and often thought of as a gemstone but is of course not a stone (many are astounded by its relative light weight compared to actual gemstones.)
Its current uses include as a teething necklace for babies. No, the babies do not bite the amber but some mysterious healing property of the amber appears to be activated when the amber makes contact with the skin.
More metaphysically speaking, this is due to amber‘s ability to absorb negative energy.
In terms of composition however, amber contains a compound called succinic acid which is antiseptic.
Amber has a long history of use toward health purposes and was even put to work to fumigate plague stricken areas. Those who used amber were reported to have not fallen ill.

Amber has been used in jewelry since around 11,000 BC. Romans reportedly prized the substance.

In Northern Europe, amber was prominent in Norse legend. The Viking culture believed amber was the crystallized tears of the goddess Freya. Freya wept so for her lost love (the god Od or Svipdag in other tellings) that her godly tears became beautiful amber „gems“. Her tears fell into the deep sea below as she wept in her giant cat drawn chariot in the sky.
Practitioners of Asatru inspired witchcraft can use amber to call upon the goddess and invoke her qualities in ritual. The amber as a symbol is ancient and time tested.

If you would like hints on where to get it:Get your own amber https://www.etsy.com/no-en/shop/NorthSpiritRunes?ref=seller-platform-mcnav

Frey is the nordic god of fertility, peace, of prosperity and wealth. He is associated with a giant boar the dwarves made for him, and once possessed a sword which fought by itself (good thing too, because he is a man of peace). He is a god of sensuality and of plenty who falls deeply in love with a giantess and sacrifices his sword for the love of her (and later on his life, as he is killed in Ragnarök without the protection of his sword.)

Very often in the realm of nordic heathenism, the role of the peaceful and sensual, life-affirming aspects of the gods are overlooked in favour of the rough, fighting, fearlessly seeking battle and embracing death aspect that we often think of Thor and others in terms of. It is very common to regard the gods as being connected solely to the viking times, since this was a very prominent period in history and very appealing for men and boys. And why not? The vikings rode their ships to foreign soil, traded and admittedly sometimes engaged in battle. This captures the imagination of the fighting spirit, and gives the will something to strive for- how to be a fighter in life who goes after what he wants.

To balance this side out though, the masculine aspect of the nordic realm is more multi-faceted and complex than that. There is the beauty of Baldr, which inspires such love from all, whose wife mourns so that she would give her own life to follow him. There we see devotion and sacrifice. This too, though is tied with death, but also resurrection- the promise that even in the darkness lighter days will follow.

Further along these lines, we can consider Frey. He is often portrayed with his sword, but it is perhaps more remarkable that he gives it up- for the love of a woman. (A giantess, but still a woman). Instead of seeking battle, he seeks love. He is a god who presides over the fields, over good harvest, over the home and happiness. You can find him in the sensual warmth of the longer days of spring and summer.

It is important to give attention to the life-affirming, as the fields which provide us with their bounty are that which sustains us on our journey, respectively. Good, organic fruit and vegetables are the domain of Frey and his warm energy. Enjoying them and growing them ourselves can give us a means to understand our ancestors better, who worked well with the soil, and understood the connection between the nourishing of the earth with the nourishing of their own bellies. Frey would have been clearly in their hearts and minds as they lived from the land.

Now, we are more distanced from these aspects and tend to think more of the chaos around us. It seems harder to relax and listen to the earth, to our senses, to our feelings, to what we love. We can easily be lead about by hate, and see only battle all around us. Although we should never hesitate to be warriors in life, we must acknowledge and facilitate the peaceful and the life-affirming.

The heart of Frey is the energy of peace and of connection to the earth. It is being willing to sacrifice the material for the connection of love. Love is the energy of the universe, and is connected with that universal consciousness that is all gods, all beings, all things in life. Understanding Frey better can bring us closer to the forces that affirm the cycle of life and the common thread of the universe. We can delight in seeing the sunnier side of northern heathenism.

As spring draws nearer, it is a good time to slowly clear out the shadows and prepare for sewing the seeds of the future. It could be the literal seeds of the field and garden, or the seeds of mind and soul, where we consider what we want to cultivate for the days that are to come. We can choose to change our lives and surroundings for the better by focusing on that which affirms life. We can consider the importance of love, and the light side of the rune feh.